Parsons brought an experimental approach to abstract painting that was not tied to any single style seeking above all to capture the “sheer energy” of a scene or composition. In Stansford (1951) Parsons employs thin layers of pigment in mostly geometric, linear forms—a compositional technique characteristic of her gouache on paper works in the early fifties, a critical period when she began to solidify her unique brand of abstraction. In this small-scale work, taken from one of the artist’s many sketchbooks, Parsons employs a loose sgraffito technique, scraping away paint in undulating strokes to reveal planes of color that lie beneath. A dynamic colorist, the artist’s adeptness with the painted surface is apparent in even her early abstract compositions, as she intuitively adds and removes color with her brush so that it is never clear where each plane of color exists within the many tiers of her painted ground.